Path of Inquiry
Bhakta: At least to keep up appearances in the world one has to sometime say, ‘this is mine.’ What is one to do then?
Swami: Of course, you may have to say so. But simply because you say so, what need is there for you to feel separateness between I and you? When you travel in a carriage, do you take the carriage as ‘I’? Look at the Sun. He gets reflected in a small pot filled with water, in a broad river, in a mirror, or on a polished pot. For this reason, does the Sun feel that all these things are ‘He’? Does He get sad when the pot breaks, or the river gets dry? This is exactly like that. If you take ‘I’ to be the body, then it is all bother! If you don’t take it so, you will shine like the Sun, independent of anything else. Besides, you will be immanent everywhere.
Bhakta: That is as much as to say each must first discover for himself who he is.
Swami: Exactly. Inquire into that first. Of course, for those who are not competent, this will be too hard. So, those experienced in this line say that such men should not be told these things. If you tell, ‘You are Yourself Brahmam,’ ‘You have attained moksha [liberation], You are in that stage’ to those not competent, they will do no sadhana, they will act without any rule or order, and they will pay no regard to right and wrong. This must be revealed only by a Guru or by the command of the Lord! Those who have the thirst and the determination to undergo the discipline of course can ask about it! But it must be practiced; there is no use simply hearing it and repeating, ‘All is One’. That is meaningless.
Bhakta: Swami, Shankara has already said, “Viswamdarpana drsyamaananagaree thulyam hi anthargatham’ etc. (inner meaning: The world, if you really penetrate into it, is like a city seen through a mirror). This vision that the Jagath (Universe) is unreal, that it is all maya (illusion)…is this for common people or for jnanis also?
Swami: The jnani’s eye sees all things as Brahmam! The ajnani or the person without jnana cannot understand whatever is said! So all Shastras are intended to benefit the middlings.
Bhakta: This means that all Sadhanas are included in the Vicharana Marga, the Path of Inquiry?
Swami: Yes. The teaching of the Vedanta is about ‘Who am I?’. And to make this inquiry, only those equipped with the Four Instruments are competent. The purpose of the four is to realize that the atma is real and that all else is unreal; also to discriminate between atma and all else.
Bhakta: How is that to be realized, Swami?
Swami: By inquiring into the nature of the atma. First, they do all varieties of sadhana and finally enter upon this. While a child, they teach you A B C D, isn’t it? Even M. A. and B. A. curricula consist of this A B C D and their permutations and combinations! But to realize this fact one has to complete one’s studies! The Shastras are based on akshara, meaning both letter and the Imperishable. All margas (paths) are based on the Vichara Marga.
Bhakta: But there are some who attain samadhi. Will they have all this enquiry etc. in samadhi?
Swami: Wonderful fellow! How can there be enquiry in samadhi? When you sleep soundly, do you have any thoughts about the world around you? This is also like that.
Bhakta: There will be no manas [mind] in samadhi, isn’t it?
Swami: The manas that persists in sleep will be there also.
Bhakta: They talk of a Thuriya Stage, (a Beyond Stage) in samadhi. What is that, Swami?
Swami: Beyond the Waking, the Dreaming, and the Deep sleep Stages.
Bhakta: Why is it that those stages are absent there? What are the characteristics of that stage?
Swami: Those three are the characteristics of I-ness. Ahamkara, time, person with manas who does all acts. That will not be present in the Turiya Stage. It would have disappeared long ago. For them, it is all the same, with eyes open or with eyes closed. It is all One.
Bhakta: Swami, without that aham, how can they talk?
Swami: What was aham in the beginning, when the Reality is grasped, is transformed as Swarupa, the True Entity; this is referred to as the Destruction of the Mind, Mano-naasanam.
Bhakta: So, this Nirvikalpa Samadhi is all Naasanam?
Swami: Well, my boy, Samadhis are all merging, layas, not destruction. The sadhaka stage is when you have both construction and destruction.
Bhakta: This subject is very interesting, Swami.
Swami: Don’t sit quiet, merely appreciating it. Practice it in daily life. All right, you can take leave.
Bhakta: Very good, Swami. Please bless me in that practice. I shall be back soon.
Source: Sandeha Nivarini
